A MAN who stole 2,200 items of jewellery worth €1m from a Madrid area store during the April 28 nationwide blackout has been arrested by the Policia Nacional.
The Albanian national struck at the Jose Luis jewellery shop in the Plaza Norte 2 shopping centre in San Sebastian de los Reyes.
He took advantage of the power failure which left all of the store’s electronic display locking mechanisms open.
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The 33-year-old man accessed the shopping centre roof and cut through the asphalt layer above the the store.
He then removed sections of plasterboard divides until he reached an internal walkway that connected the different shops.
He then accessed a back door into the jewellery shop.
With the help of a screwdriver, he prised open display cases without breaking them and removed all of the pieces including a collection of white gold and diamonds.
The police probe identified a car that he travelled in to the shopping centre which he bought second-hand a few months earlier.
The day after the heist, he drove it out of the country and got rid of it.
Inquiries revealed he made frequent trips to and from Spain using different identities to avoid being caught by the police.
He was however arrested during a return visit on October 22 and sent to prison by a judge.
At the time of his detention, he had €3,000 in cash on him which he could not say where it came from.
He also had one of the stolen jewellery items on him- a chain which he was wearing around his neck.
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